Gov. Chris Christie comforting Bonnie Miller in Brick, N.J., as he toured the coastline last fall.

Hurricane Sandy turned Chris Christie into something akin to America’s governor, as the nation watched him express his state’s pain on the devastated shoreline the morning after the storm, then triumphantly cut the ribbons on reopened boardwalks on Memorial Day. “We’re stronger than the storm,” he proclaimed in television commercials that ran in other states all summer.

But in the affected parts of New Jersey, Governor Christie’s storm campaign has not sold as well. With at least 26,000 people still out of their homes a year later, he has become the focus of ire for many storm survivors who say that the recovery does not look as impressive to them as it does to the rest of the country.

Homeowners promised money from Mr. Christie’s rebuilding program say they have yet to see it; those who have been denied aid vent about the bureaucracy. Some criticize him for encouraging residents to build to new flood zone standards to speed recovery; homeowners now say they are being penalized, because anyone who started rebuilding is ineligible for a grant.

October 23, 2013 - Newark, NJ - Former Assistant Attorney General Shavar Jeffries, was joined by residents and some members of his campaign's public safety committee who are experts in the field of criminal justice to unveil his plan to combat crime and improve public safety in the city of Newark.

"My safety plan reflects some of the best thinking in the country," said Jeffries. "Newark's public safety problems, simply put, cannot be fixed by tinkering at the edges of its policing model and police department.

"Our focus is on public safety - which includes crime, disorder, and fear­-of­-crime - not just crime. We can only fix problems if we understand them."

Cory Booker is meeting with all of his department directors and senior administration officials to discuss his imminent departure. Friday October 18, 2013. Newark, NJ, USA.

NEWARK — After seven years as head of the state’s largest city, Mayor Cory Booker will have two jobs in the weeks ahead: setting up his U.S. Senate office and gathering a staff in Washington, and working through a difficult transition in Newark’s splintered government.

"There are three urgent areas (where) there has to be a seamless transition," Booker said in an interview at his campaign office today.

In rapid-fire order he listed crime, development and the city budget as areas in which his successor "can’t miss a beat."

Property taxes in our state have been out of control for decades. There is no quick fix, no silver bullet that would turn the situation around overnight. It took decades to get this bad and it is going to take a while to get it right. That’s why all ideas for property-tax relief should be seriously considered.

Among recent proposals is one by the New Jersey League of Municipalities that proponents say would allow for a 35 percent reduction on up to a $20,000 tax bill on your principal home. According to the League’s analysis, this approach would reduce property taxes on the average home by $2,700.

At the heart of the proposal is a plan to change the state’s income tax structure so that more of the tax burden would be based on an individual’s ability to pay.

Stewart Fishbein, left, and Peter Aupperle showed off the rings signifying their marriage at Hoboken City Hall on Monday.

As couples across New Jersey began marrying on Monday after the stroke of midnight, Gov. Chris Christie abandoned his long fight against same-sex marriage, concluding that signals from the court and the march of history were against him.

His decision not to appeal a judge’s ruling that allowed the weddings removed the last hurdle to legalized same-sex marriage in New Jersey, making it the 14th state, along with the District of Columbia, to allow gay couples to wed.

Mr. Christie’s advisers said it became clear late on Friday that the fight had to end after the State Supreme Court announced it would not grant the governor’s request to block same-sex marriages while he appealed.

Gov. Chris Christie is the most remarkable political talent America has seen since Bill Clinton. If you haven’t witnessed his performance at a town hall meeting yet, make a point of it. You will come away convinced there is a sensible middle ground in America after all.

Equally impressive is his skill at playing Trenton’s inside game. Faced with Democrats in solid control of the Legislature, he’s managed to split them down the middle by seducing a handful of pliant party bosses whose self-interest compelled them to hitch their wagons to his.

The surprise is that his achievements have been only modest. He signed an important reform to contain pension and health costs, but it was mostly done before he arrived. He signed a useful tenure reform last year, but it is a weak version that still protects bad teachers with seniority. His reorganization of the higher education system is promising, but untested.

Newark mayoral candidate Shevar Jeffries joined hundreds of like-minded participants in Lincoln Park for the American Cancer Society's "Making Strides" walk for a cure for breast cancer. Jeffries and his "All in for Newark" team trekked the three mile course from Lincoln Park to Military Park and back with the throngs of other striders determined to see breast cancer eradicated in their lifetimes.

Same-sex couples can start marrying on Monday across New Jersey, after the state’s Supreme Court denied Gov. Chris Christie’s attempt to block the weddings and suggested that he would have a difficult time winning an appeal of a lower-court ruling that allowed them.

A State Superior Court judge ruled last month that the state had to allow same-sex marriage to comply with two decisions: the United States Supreme Court ruling in June that same-sex married couples have the same rights to federal benefits as heterosexual married couples, and a 2006 ruling by the New Jersey Supreme Court that same-sex couples were entitled to all of the rights and benefits of marriage.

The Superior Court judge, Mary C. Jacobson, ruled that the marriages could begin on Monday.